Elven Chronicles Book 3: Life and Adventure

After all the chaos of the past few months of my life, one huge thing remains. Alia's wedding! She and Elendil get married tomorrow and the whole fire kingdom is preparing for their huge day. Friends from all the kingdoms are staying in the fire kingdom, and Elwen and Lily, Isabel and Fenel, and my father and I are all staying in the castle. Elwen has proposed to Lily last week, and they are getting married in six months. I feel like this is the first normal thing that has happened in the past six months or so.

"Kida, you look quite tired," my father said with a smile.

"Yeah no kidding. Alia is freaking out, Aaron is trying to get Elendil's head together, I have to play High Queen and a bridesmaid at the same time, and we just figured out what is going to go on tomorrow."

He just laughed and assured me that everything was going to be alright. I returned to Alia's room where she was pacing nervously. Her mother, father, and sister were not arriving until tomorrow morning, and I am the only one who can keep her calm. I found her in my room staring out the window.

"Hey Alia. How are we doing?"

"You would think that living for over two thousand years would make me calm. Instead, I am so nervous and I think I am going to be sick."

"Go ahead. It is not my house. The maids will all come and make some huge fuss and move me somewhere else." That made her smile weakly back at me. She really did look hyped up.

"I don't know what I am nervous about," she confessed.

"I am surpried you are nervous, Alia. I mean you run into battle ready for anything, and you are nervous about your marriage? I don't get it."

"Maybe because it feels like a repeat, only this time I am much closer to the prize. I keep waiting for Elendil to say that he does not want to marry me like his father did."

"Elendil loves you more than anything, and you know that. Come on, let's go practice water bending."

We went out and played around for hours. By the end of our session, we were both covered in sweat and breathing heavily. It felt awesome, and I could tell that Alia was nice and relaxed. She went to bed earl,y and I joined my father in his room.

"I am excited for tomorrow," I told him. "The wedding is going to be so much fun."

"Yeah, I am extemely happy for Alia. She deserves this."

"Do you wish you had a wedding, father?"

"Yes I do. I wish I had married your mother almost twenty-one years ago. I have been to so many weddings, but I have no idea it feels to get married."

"Well, hopefully I will be able to tell you about it someday."

"No need to say hopefully, Kida. When I see you and Aaron, it is like watching two people that have been made just for the other. When he moves, you move. It seems like you are both thinking the same thing all the time. It facinates me to watch how the two of you act, and when he is not there, it seems like a piece of you is missing. I find it strange."

"Really? We look like that?"

"Yeah. It is called faquinate. That is the elven word for perfect match. Legends say that everyone has a match for them. If it is not found in this world, it may exist in another time or place. Some may find their match on this world, or in the next, or never at all. Until you find him or her, you never know what you are missing."

"I understand. I fell whole when Aaron is around, but when he is not it always feels like there is an empty space. It is not great, but I feel it inside."

I could tell that I made him uncomfortable, so I changed the subject. "Alia's family is coming early tomorrow, and she is very excited for that."

"She shoud be. She hardly gets to see them. I commend her on living her dreams and breaking away from being a princess. That must be hard. I remember when she told me about her life. I felt horrible for her because I knew how if felt to be separated from family."

"Do you think about yours often?" I asked him. We really did not talk about his family much.

"Yeah, my mother and I were really close when I was growing up. She would sing and dance with me like she had nothing better to do, even though she was a queen. My sister was so fun and free about life, and she made every one feel better. My father was more remote, but I knew he was just trying to be a good king," he answered me more freely than I expected.

"I saw her, your sister, I mean. She came to me when I was captured," I felt he needed to know.

He smiled. "That is nice to know. She was such a good person."

We both just sat for a while after that enjoying the other's company. That is what I liked the most about my father, he just would let the silence fill the empty space in the conversation. I have only known him for four and a half years, but I feel like I have known him for much longer than that.

"Night, Father. See you bright and early."

"Oh no. I am staying away from the ladies' side of the house. You will all be doing your hair and make-up for tomorrow. I want nothing to do with that. I see you once the wedding starts."

I laughed. "Thanks for leaving me out to dry. Sleep well."

"You too, honey," he said and smiled.